Review of Batman: Under The Red Hood (2010)

'Batman: Under The Red Hood' is a 2010 direct-to-video superhero film based on the Batman storylines 'A Death in the Family' and 'Under the Hood'. The film is the eighth in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line released by Warner Premiere and Warner Bros. Animation. It was released on July 27th 2010. The film stars Bruce Greenwood as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Jensen Ackles as the Red Hood/Jason Todd and John DiMaggio as the Joker. The screenplay was written by Judd Winick, who also wrote the 'Under the Hood' run in the monthly Batman comic.

I liked this, that much is for sure. It's a much more darker film than I was expecting, there's a fair bit of blood and a lot of violence for an animated film. I don't want to give away too much of the story because it has quite a good one, but what I can tell you is that  it revolves around Batman (and a guest appearance by Dick Grayson/Nightwing) trying to deal with a new masked criminal that goes by the name of The Red Hood. He's more of a vigilante like Batman, except he is fine with using excessive force and killing. The Red Hood is battling crime in Gotham by taking it over and killing off the competition; he has many run ins with the crime lord the Black Mask, forcing the crime lord to take drastic measures. Another iconic DC villain we see in this film is Ra's Al Ghul, so this film already seems more interesting.

The story is pretty good, it starts off really well, this continues up until near the end when it starts to become very predictable. The voice acting is top notch apart from the Joker's, but that may just be personal preference because for the whole film it seemed weird not be hearing Mark Hamill's Joker voice. Superheroes, murder, guilt, dark memories, resurrection, revenge, crime war, what more do we need from an animate Batman film? I am going to give 'Batman: Under The Red Hood' a 7.5/10. Definitely worth a watch if you are a Batman fan.